


Spotting Data

by Aidaran, StarTravel



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alien Technology, Bodyswap, Data POV, Dealing with Emotions, Fluff and Humor, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-10 02:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20520707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aidaran/pseuds/Aidaran, https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarTravel/pseuds/StarTravel
Summary: Data has a run in with Lore and wakes up several inches shorter than usual and with a lot more fur.





	Spotting Data

Data felt himself wake up in his room. Odd. He searched through his memories for an explanation for that. He was in the storage room looking for Spot, then he saw Lore, and before he could say anything, he was there, in his room, and very... close to the ground?

And why was he in all fours? Certainly those didn't look like hands. A mirror. He needed a mirror to see what had Lore done.

Data walked toward the mirror in his quarters, eyes widening when he saw his reflection in the mirror. Or rather, Spot’s reflection. He walked forward and backward just to be sure. Yes. Certainly that was him, somehow inside a cat’s body. Definitely a very inventive tactic, even for Lore.

He wondered about the mechanics of what had just happened. Certainly his neural pathways should not be compatible with the ones of a cat, and also, it was unlikely a cat's brain could hold both consciousness at the same time. Considering he couldn't sense any trauma, the logical conclusion was that somehow, Spot was walking in his android body.

He wondered if Spot would meow or talk. 

He wondered if  _ he  _ would meow or talk.

Data opened Spot’s mouth, a loud meow coming out. One question solved, then. He needed to find Spot in his body and Geordi. Good thing he'd never put a safe to avoid Spot walking the corridors, since he doubted Spot would just know to come to get him in the room. First things first, find Geordi.

Data walked down the hall, darting past his fellow officers. He needed to think. Where would Geordi usually be at this time if he wasn’t on duty?

The most likely conclusion was the holodeck.

After a bit of fussing, he opened the door and crawled into the holodeck, meowing loudly, hoping Geordi was there and would hear him. If there was something he could trust Geordi to forget, was to lock the door even with his most embarrassing programs. He was quite sure he’d never be able to enter the Captain’s ones as easily as this one. Geordi turned, dressed as a XIX century pirate, and stopped trying to unsuccessfully seduce a barmaid.

"Spot? How did you get in here? I swear, Data should put a lock on his quarters."

Data meowed loudly and sat in front of Geordi, looking up at him expectantly. This program seemed quite interesting and he hoped he’d be able to explore it in a near future, but first things first. He needed Geordi to understand him.

"Did he forget to give you food? Geordi to Data." He touched his combadge, annoyed. Data was not sure what would happen. Either Spot or Lore would answer, but the most logical possibility was the last one, if nobody had noticed his absence yet. He hoped somehow it would be Spot. The badge beeped and Data meowed hopefully.

"Data here. Is there a problem?" Lore's voice sounded exactly like his own. There was a low ambient hum, but it didn’t quite sound like the bridge or engineering.

“Spot snuck into my holoprogram. I think he wants dinner.”

"Can you take care of that? I am doing some work."

“All right, but you owe me.” Geordi sighed a little as he hung up. He glanced down at Data, who was moving his tail nervously, and shook his head. “Come on, Spot. I’ll walk you home.”

Data clawed his leg and meowed lowly, trying to get him to go to the storage room he believed his body must still be, probably hissing and banging the walls.

Geordi sighed, leaning down to pick the cat up. He held him close to his face. “No scratching, Spot.”

Geordi picked him in his arms, and Data... felt, something weird. Pleasant. A lot more pleasant than holding a cat, which usually ranked high in the things his neural pathways missed if he didn't do it in a regular manner. He wanted to say to Geordi  _ I believe I am purring _ , but all that came from his mouth was a happy meow.

Geordi couldn’t help grinning a bit, scratching a spot behind Data’s ear. Data made another happy meow, the tail swishing back and forth. Curious. “You’re in a good mood today.”

_ I don't have moods, Geordi. _ Again, just a pitiful meow.

“Hey, don’t worry, we’re getting you dinner.” Geordi promised as he started walking out of the holodeck. Data tried to meow and angle himself so he pointed toward storage.

"Spot, if you keep moving we'll never arrive!"

Data yowled and struggled in his arms, trying to make Geordi see where he was leading him. Geordi sighed and let him down. Yes, this was why he didn’t like this cat to begin with.

"Very well, lead the way, Sp... wait, where are you going? Data will get mad if I lose you!"

Data ran toward the supply room, meowing loudly so Geordi could follow him, running and screaming things he was happy Spot would not be able to reproduce in front of Data, and sighing when the cat started to scratch a door desperately.

“There’s no food in there, Spot.” He leaned over and tried to pick the cat up again, only to get a hiss in his face that made him let go of the cat in a panic.

"Spot! That's not a place for cats!"

From inside came, in Data's voice, a pitiful " _ miau _ ", and the weirdest scratching sound.

"What's happening here, Spot?"

_ Oh Geordi, if I could tell you _ , meowed Data.

Another “Miau”, louder this time sand a noise as if somebody was banging his head against the storage room door. Data ran up to the door and meowed pointedly. Geordi pressed his combadge.

"Geordi to Worf. Can you come here with a security team? There's something weird in one of the storage rooms and I’d prefer to have backup when I open it.”

Data meowed sadly while on the other side of the door, another yowl in Data’s voice came. And to think Geordi was having such a slow and relaxed day.

Worf arrived with Lore, dressed as Data, and 3 security officers. Data, in Spot's body, started to hiss at Lore angrily. Geordi looked at him with surprise. "What's wrong with you today?"

“I believe Spot is upset because I had to get her vaccines updated today. She found it painful.” Lore smiled gently and made no attempt to get closer to the cat.

Geordi nodded at that and turns to Worf. "There's something in storage making weird noises and banging against the walls. We may have a stowaway."

Worf started to open the door, Data curling closer to Geordi.

"I think it is probably just a bit of a vole infestation. I found several of them after our visit to Deep Space 6. Maybe I could take care of them without bothering security." Lore stepped between them.

"It's ok, Data, we can..."

"I'm not asking."

“Data?” Geordi raised an eyebrow, taking a step toward his friend - only for Data to get in the middle, hissing protectively. He knew Lore would try and deceive Geordi and Worf.

"I can take care of it, Geordi. Go feed Spot, please."

"You don't use contractions." Geordi frowned, suspicious. Something was very wrong today.

“I have been practicing sounding more human. Was that contraction an acceptable one?”

"Worf, open this door right now." Geordi took a step back and the other security officers all pointed their phasers to Lore.

"A pity. Now you'll all have to die." Lore smiled nastily at them.

“Right away.” Worf grunted, holding his own weapon aimed at Lore at the same time he started to unlock the door.

Lore took a phaser from the back of his uniform and started firing, hitting two of the officers. Geordi took Data in his arms and ran away, until he turned a corner to protect them from the fire, comming the captain. "Lore's on the ship! Red alert! I don't know since when Data's gone missing."

“And something is wrong with Data.” Worf called as Data’s body stumbled out of the storage room in all fours. 

He glanced around, scared and confused. “Miaou”.

Data meowed back, trying to get Spot to calm down.

Lore was nowhere to be seen. So now they had a cat meowing to Data's face, Data meowing back and trying to clean his face, and Lore hiding somewhere in the ship.

"First things first. Let's take these two to sickbay and get doctor Crusher to see what's wrong."

Geordi sighed and wondered if he should call Barclay to assist him. The man was surprisingly good with animals. Even if that animal was his best friend.

And that was how Data ended up in Barclay’s hands, with the shy man scratching his ears and telling him she was a good cat. “It’s all right, sweetie, the doctor will see what’s wrong with you and then we can tell Data what a great day you had.”

“I don’t think that’s Spot, Barclay.”

Barclay looked at Geordi in panic. "Who's is she, then? One of he-her children?"

“No, no, it’s not one of the kittens. I think that might be Data in Spot’s body.”

"Oh. I just... I-I scratched our second officer ears. And called him sw-sweetie. I think I may need something for my anxiety."

He was pale as he crossed the infirmary doors, still holding a purring Data in his arms.

“I’ll make sure to get you something, but for now can you help me keep Spot comfortable?” Crusher asked while gesturing at Data’s body.

Data curled next to his body, that meowed at him and purred, making his whole android body vibrate in the weirdest fashion.

“Today has been very strange.” Geordi mumbled before he took a step back, glancing between Spot and Data.

Data meowed pointedly. What he wanted to say was,  _ Lore has a device, and he hit me with this when I was in one of the storage room with Spot and then he went on to impersonate me. I think he has a plan _ .

“We’re going to fix this, Data. Right? You know how to switch their brains back, doctor?”

Data meowed again, resigned.  _ I know, but you cannot understand me _ .

“Not yet. We’ll have to keep Data - Spot - still though.”

Spot was curling over Data anyway, as best as a very big android could curl, anyway.

Data let her, even though he felt slightly crushed. 

Crusher sighed and walked over to them both, patting Spot reassuringly, and being rewarded with another  _ miau _ . “This is a new one.”

Data meowed. _ Not my fault, search for the device my brother has! He must be still in the ship, he had a machine but it did not look as if it was finished. _

The doctor walked around them, scanning them with a tricorder and looking at the results in the computer. She typed a bit and searched for old files. "Certainly their brainwaves are switched, if we look at their previous studies. Data is in Spot body." Crusher frowned.

“And Spot is in Data’s? How does that even work?”

"I'm not sure. It shouldn't be possible. Our best chance is to find Lore and get him to tell us what he did, since I doubt Data will be able to tell us anything."

_ Find him and I'll find the device _ , Data tried to say. Had he been human he'd be extremely frustrated, but maybe because he was a cat, he felt a bit of frustration anyway. He was always ready to experience new things and emotions, so he hoped he’d be able to revisit this one when he was back in his body. This cat brain certainly didn’t have enough processing power to analyze it and pay attention to the situation at the same time.

Geordi looked at the studies and wondered if he could open Spot’s head to connect himself to the positronic brain. A small hiss told him that no, he better keep his hands to himself.

“That makes sense. Worf and I will look for with work a team. We’ll leave ... Spot here. Data, I’m not sure you should go with us either.”

Data jumped at Geordi's shoulders and hissed. He didn't want to be left behind.  _ You need me to guide you to the device, Geordi. You cannot leave me behind. _

“I’m going to take that as a no. I’ll carry you, but you have to remember you’re a lot smaller now.”

Data wished to reassure Geordi that he will not forget but all he could do was purr.  _ I am well aware of my actual size, and that is why I will allow you to carry me. _

Lore seemed to have banished. In fact, O'Brien couldn't find a log of how he transported in, even if considering they raised shields immediately after Geordi gave the alert, it was impossible he had beamed out.

Geordi felt suspicious, glancing down at the at cat on his shoulder. “Data, where would you go to hide? Do you have any idea what Lore was up to?”

Data jumped from his shoulder and started to walk them to the place he found Lore in the first place. He was sure his brother had been searching for something in the storage when he interrupted him.

Geordi followed Data, carefully making his way through the storage trying to find something Lore would want. Something besides ruining Data’s life, anyway, but the whole storage was in disarray and it was impossible to find anything. Something had been stolen, but it was impossible to know what. That was, if somebody had a normal nose. Data certainly had a better one now.

Data meowed as he followed the scent, jumping onto boxes and climbing between shelves. Being a cat had more advantages than he would have guessed. Geordi and Worf struggled to follow him, as he jumped to where he found the scent, meowing loudly when he saw what was missing.

Geordi looked at the empty space and suddenly remembered what had been stored there. "We need to stop him. If I'm not mistaken, he's building something that could render a ship's shields useless."

“Lucky for us that it had a specific scent. Your work is honorable, Data.” Worf looked at both of them proudly.

Data cleaned his face and jumped down. He may be able to track his brother too, with his nose.

Worf stood behind him, glancing at Geordi and then down to the cat. “If he can lead us to Lore, then we should be able to stop him and reverse Data’s current predicament.”

Finally Data felt he was being understood. It was hard being a cat and having such a limited vocabulary. His brother's scent was everywhere, but if he focused he could find the newest one, the one that'd lead them.

Geordi followed him, shaking his head when Data would stop every so often. “I can’t believe we’re tracking Lore by scent.”

Data turned and meowed. Really, he felt like saying petty things like,  _ you took too long to even figure out I had been turned into a cat, and that would not be the weirdest thing that has happened in this ship, so you cannot complain of my methods now. _ It probably was Spot's brain, making him think unusual things.

Geordi sighed at the annoyed meow. “All right, all right, I get it. No more complaining.”

Finally Data arrived at a door and sat there. His brother was on the other side, he was sure. Worf called for backup while Geordi picked Data up. No need to risk him. Who knew what would happen if he was injured while being in this body.

Geordi held Data protectively as they busted through the door. Lore glanced over at them and sighed a bit, still wearing Data’s uniform. “I see you’re trying to stop me.”

A big machine stood in the middle of the room, almost completed. Data wondered if there was an armada outside ready to decloak as soon as the machine activated. It undoubtedly was. 

Data glanced toward the machine and up at Geordi, but luckily he had come to the same conclusion. He handed Data to one of the nearby security officers. “Cover me while I disable that machine.”

Data meowed. He now remembered. He'd followed Spot and stumbled upon the machine. It was the machine itself that changed them when the cat jumped on it, not something Lore had done. They couldn't disable it just yet!

Geordi glanced down at him, hands on the machine. “There’s more to this, isn’t there Data?”

Data answered with a loud meow. Worf sighed angrily without moving his phaser from Lore’s face.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but I needed an insurance. Destroy the machine and I'm sure Data will enjoy being a cat for the rest of his life. Too bad I doubt the cat would be a good officer, all I’ve seen him do is meow with my brother’s voice." Lore smiled at them.

Geordi sighed in annoyance and glanced down at Data and then back to Worf. He wasn’t going to let his best friend spend the rest of his life as a cat if he could prevent it. Worf nodded. "I'll take him to the brig while you investigate the machine."

"Very well, and I'll ask doctor Crusher to bring Spot here."

“Good, good. Keep an eye on the machine. If it comes down to it, as much as I respect Commander Data’s desire not to be a cat ...”

"I doubt we'd be able to successfully destroy it without his help, so the priority is getting him back into his own brain."

Worf nodded again. “Of course. Hopefully doctor Crusher and you together will be able to solve that aspect of the device.”

Geordi commed sickbay and very soon Barclay came in, one armed wrapped around Data’s body.

"I wish you all luck." Lore said and made a small bow when he left.

Worf gripped his arm just a bit tighter after that. Geordi went to work on the machine, Crusher behind him and Data on his shoulder.

Data meowed and took his hand out of a control, hissing urgently.

“That’s the one you think?” Geordi began studying the mechanics of the device.

Data hissed again. _ Do not touch that! _

“Not this one then? Or you’re worried you’ll end up as me and I’ll end up as a cat?”

Data meowed, frustrated, and pointed to another one with his nose.

Geordi started studying that one instead, lips pursed. “I see it affects the neural patterns through electromagnetic pulses ...”

Barclay pat Spot on the head, trying to get the cat-man to relax a bit. He wondered if he would ever be appreciated for all his hard work.

(Narrator: He would. By the crew of Voyager.)

"I-I... I think what Sp-Data wants us to-to-to touch, is this one."

Data jumped to his shoulder and purred.  _ Finally! I better guide you, Barclay instead of Geordi, you can understand cats better. _

Geordi took a step back, looking a bit hurt. Data was confused by that, but there was no time. He meowed and nudged the device with his nose again. Barclay looked at him and got closer to the machine. “He wants me to study it. Data, what do you think? this circuit certainly seems fake, I think it may be hiding the real one underneath."

Data meowed happily. Barclay nodded, carefully removing the device.

“I can’t believe you’re better talking to cats than to humans.” Geordi muttered in annoyance.

"Geordi, lo-look! I think this is the real core of the device! I think we could reverse the process with th-th-this!"

Geordi ran over, helping Barclay to study the circuit. “If we reverse these series of waves, that should switch them back, right?”

"I th-think so. But I su-suspect the wiring has been cut and we need to redirect it first. Data? Can you show us where?"

Data crawled down his arm, glancing at the wires and batting at the correct ones. He only hoped they all understood this time.

He had to admit he was mistaken going to Geordi in the first place. Barclay was the right one for this. He purred when they finally connected all the wiring.

They turned the machine, and pretty soon Data spoke through his own mouth. "Certainly, being a cat was a very particular experience."

“Data, you’re back to being yourself.” Geordi said with more than a touch of relief. Then he glanced down at Spot. “Which means you’re?”

Spot turned and ignored Geordi, licking herself clean. "I believe Spot is in her right body now."

"I noticed, Data."

“You seemed confused.” Data answered as he turned his focus back to the device. They still needed to make sure it couldn’t do any damage to the shields. “We need to disassemble this machine and make sure there is not an armada waiting nearby, cloaked. I am quite certain my brother sold our location.”

"Of course I was confused! My friend was meowing, Data."

“Yes, it was a strange ordeal for myself as well. Spot had many physiological reactions I would like to study in further detail.”

"Study them later. First we need to disable this machine and decide what to do with your brother."

“Of course.” Data and Geordi disabled a few more wires. Barclay scratched Spot behind the ears.

He suddenly stopped. "This... This is a cat now, right? A re-real cat. I'm not scratching the captain or the counselor behind their ears?"

“No, that’s just Spot. As far we know, everyone is in the right body.” Doctor Crusher smiled reassuringly.

Barclay nodded nervously and continued stroking the cat. No need to get into trouble for baby talking to the captain.

Data disconnected a wire, nodding as he watched the machine make a whirring noise and then stop working altogether. "I believe now we have turned offline all the dangerous systems. We can disassemble it safely."

“Wonderful. And then maybe we can talk about what it was like to be a cat.”

"It was certainly a very interesting experience, that I would like to repeat in a more controlled environment. I memorized the configuration of this machine so I could be able to repeat the experiment any time I wanted to."

“Wait what?” Geordi asked, glancing nervously at Spot. “Okay, but I don’t have to take care of the cat in your body. Leave that to Barclay.”

"I think that is a wise choice. You were quite bad at interpreting my signals, Geordi."

Geordi laughed and shook his head, putting a hand on Data’s shoulder. He would never get a pet cat, that he knew for sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


End file.
